San Diego 2018-19 season preview for Toreros

San Diego Basketball: 2018-19 season preview for the Toreros

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 03: Isaiah Wright #22 of the San Diego Toreros drives against McKay Cannon #24 of the Brigham Young Cougars during a quarterfinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 3, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cougars won 85-79. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 03: Isaiah Pineiro #0 of the San Diego Toreros holds assistant coach Terrence Rencher back during an altercation with the Brigham Young Cougars during a quarterfinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 3, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

The San Diego Toreros could have their best team in 10 years. Are they the second-best team in the West Coast Conference?

The West Coast Conference has been the Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and BYU show for a long time, this season a fourth team is looking to compete with the three stalwarts, the San Diego Toreros.

Before Gonzaga dominated the conference, the Toreros made two NCAA Tournament appearances, one in 2003 and another in 2008 when they defeated the Zags for the conference tournament title, and then went on to defeat UConn in overtime as a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Over the last three seasons, the team has seen an eleven-win improvement under the tutelage of Lamont Smith. Smith was let go after a domestic violence charge (he has since been acquitted) and assistant Sam Scholl took over and led the team to the CIT quarterfinals. Finishing 20-14, 2017-18 marked just the fourth time since they became a Division I program in 1979-80 that they reached the 20-win mark.

The continuity in hiring Scholl as the full-time head coach allowed the team to keep its players and avoid a mass desertion that sometimes follows a coaching change (see UNC-Asheville). As a result, Scholl has plenty to work within his first full season, with four starters returning and nearly every reserve of consequence.

For the first time since perhaps 2008, San Diego enters a season as maybe the biggest threat to Gonzaga. 2018 should be another step forward for Scholl and his squad, how big a step remains to be seen, but here is a look at what the Toreros have going for them.